Wildcats look foward to next year following Schaumburg loss
By Matt Me Cren
There weren't many tears shed in the West Chicago huddle following the Wildcats' season-ending 4-1 loss to Schaumburg Tuesday in a Class 3A regional semifinal in West Chicago.
Perhaps that's because the team will lose only two players – starting defenders Anna Mercaldo and Stephanie Salinas – to graduation.
"Our team has a lot of juniors so we've been playing together for three years now," junior goalkeeper Kelsey Myers said.
"We're really excited for next year and we're going to keep building."
The Wildcats recovered from a five-game losing streak to win three of their last five matches and finish with a 9-15-1 record, which included a 6-1 victory over Willowbrook in the opening round of the playoffs.
But they were no match for Schaumburg, the No. 2 seed in the Schaumburg Sectional.
The visiting Saxons (14-2-3) were mindful of the fact they had beaten the 14th-seeded Wildcats just 1-0 back on March 24 and used their superior speed to pressure West Chicago from the start.
Sophomore Kelsey Steenstrup had a hat trick for Schaumburg, with the first two goals coming in the first half of a match the Saxons outshot the Wildcats 22-5.
The first goal came at the 26:59 mark when Steenstrup sidestepped a defender, dribbled into the box and beat a diving Myers with a 15-yard shot.
Steenstrup made it 2-0 with 3:26 left in the half, volleying home a cross from Rachel Kahen. Myers came out and made a diving attempt to cut off the cross but just missed it.
She was one of the stars for the Wildcats, making 13 saves to keep the score respectable.
"I've had my really good days and my really off days, so I'm just trying to get better and be more consistent," said Myers, who had three shutouts this spring. "We need to work on marking up more and basically just talking more.
"We definitely played better against teams [that were] better than us. We just need to build our confidence and stay strong against every team so we'll do a lot better."
The Saxons found a weakness in West Chicago's defense and kept picking at it.
Riley Williams found an opening that way just four minutes into the second half when she got around a defender and crossed to an open Sarah Christy in front for the third Schaumburg goal.
Steenstrup completed her hat trick with 29:13 left, beating Myers top shelf with a wicked 25-yard blast from beyond the top of the penalty arc.
But the Wildcats didn't go down without a fight.
Sophomore midfielder Bianca Navejas got West Chicago on the board with her fifth goal of the season with 4:46 remaining on a beautiful 20-yard shot from the right wing that nestled just inside the left post in the upper corner of the Schaumburg net.
"I think [the goal] was really important because it got our hopes up again and made us believe that we can actually do it," Navejas said.
"At first we were kind of down and I think that brought us up a little bit."
If the Wildcats can improve defensively, the 2011 season should be promising.
They were shut out only four times this season and have a bona fide star in junior striker Megan Radloff, who scored about half of the team's goals.
Freshmen forwards Andie Lazzerini and Katie Becker got valuable experience up front this spring and could develop into legitimate scoring threats to take some of the pressure off Radloff.
Navejas and junior Mary Rojas figure to be key contributors in the middle.
"I'm going to try to step up," Navejas said. "I'm really happy with our season. I believe that we're going to be really, really good next year."
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